


Swallow in Flight

by perpetuallyfrowning



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 13:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11487474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetuallyfrowning/pseuds/perpetuallyfrowning
Summary: Gon gets a sailor tattoo.





	Swallow in Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the Togashi mangacap that inspired this fic:  
> http://rutherfooord.tumblr.com/post/160167543455

 

A boy sat on the edge of the pier, his bare feet swinging over the water. It was early in the morning darkness, and several gulls squawked overhead as the sky slowly lightened to orange. 

Ships were coming into the harbor to dock after their long journeys. The great wooden hulls creaked as sailors on board shouted, their voices distant and blending with the rippling of the waves.

Gon tilted his head back and drew in a deep breath, eyes closed. Today would mark three months since he'd watched Killua leave with his sister. He leaned back on his elbows and watched the insides of his eyelids turn red from the rising sun.

The sailors had begun to disembark. One in particular was over seven feet tall, and had bulging muscles on his arms scrawled all over in ink. He lumbered towards the nearest pub and did not notice the boy on the pier who grinned and slid on his boots to run after him.

"Excuse me! Sir!"

The giant sailor stopped to look back.

"I really like your tattoos! Do you know where I could get one like yours?"

He laughed, "That's a helluva way to introduce yourself to someone, kid."

= = =

Half an hour later, Gon sat cross-legged and grinning up on a bar counter. The establishment was full of half-asleep old men curled over their drinks at the tables, huge noses flushed red and pockmarked from years of hard liquor.

A pet monkey scurried across the counter to steal a bowl of nuts that were next to Gon's foot, and the boy reached out to pet its fur; it chittered curiously at him.

A bald old man, his shoulders hunched forward with age, was growling at Gon's muscled companion from the harbor. The giant was already merry with drink.

"Whatever he gets, Ed, you're paying double for it. I'm retired, I can't do this anymore," said the old man.

Ed chuckled and swatted at the old man's shoulder, nearly sending him to the floor. "Mean old coot, same as always. C'mon now! The whole house is watching, I know you wouldn't want te disappoint such a fine audience." He turned about on his stool and raised his arms up to the rest of the company. "What'll we give the lad?!"

He was toasted and cheered by some of the sailors who hadn't yet lost consciousness, foaming beer mugs held aloft, and the old man glared fiercely at the noise as he motioned for Gon to remove his top, and began scrubbing Gon's back and shoulders with disinfecting alcohol.

Responses jostled together. Some members of the audience shouted for a nautical star, to give the boy direction ("How steady do these fools think my old hands are," the tattoo artist muttered behind Gon),

dice for luck ("Oh those aren't too bad..."),

a pin-up girl ("Aw, never was good at those..."),

until finally he shook his head and yelled at them all to shut up.

He turned to Gon, who was looking curiously at him over his shoulder. "Hey kid, you traveled five thousand miles yet?"

"Mm-hm!" Gon nodded his head vigorously, and put a finger up to his chin as he thought back on all his travels. "I've been to York New, and Kukuroo Mountain, and Zevil Island, and..."

"Got to have been on a boat now mind you, none of that airship nonsense," the tattooist added sharply.

"Um..."

Ed chimed in. "He's askin' if he can give you a swallow bird. You earn a new swallow to mark every five thousand miles when ye work on the sea like us."

Gon put a finger to his lips and frowned. "I've been to Dolle Harbor by boat...so that's...uh...almost...four thousand miles?"

The old man's face turned blue with disbelief. Ed looked nervous and turned his head away, sweating with apprehension as the old man geared up for a lecture. "What happened, did you drop out of preschool you delinquent!? Your calculations aren't even close! Dolle Harbor is three hundred miles away."

"Uh..." Gon winced, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, Mito-san's says she's still trying to get me through third year math..."

"If I had a tattoo for giving smarts I'd put it on your face right now, but you're out of luck kid." The artist shook his head. "Three hundred miles by sea, good Lord."

He picked up a thick pencil from the counter to begin the trace. "Welp I'm in the mood for a swallow, so it'll have to make do. Put your shoulders forward, I need the skin stretched or else it'll look like Satan's arse when I'm done."

Gon nodded and leaned forward. He bent his head down and stared at the grain of the wooden countertop. The monkey had finished eating the bowl of nuts and now it slinked among the shelf of glass alcohol bottles, long tail curling for balance.

The old man seemed to struggle with the pencil, unable to get the trace he wanted. He kept slipping off the skin and cursing as he jabbed into Gon's spine.

"Ye alright there, buddy?" Ed laughed. "Gears a bit rusted, eh?"

"Shut your trap or I'll shut it for you." The old man readied the four needles he'd wrapped together in a bundle, and dipped them into another empty nut bowl which had been filled with ink.

As he worked he muttered, "The kid's got better muscles than you, so this shouldn't be too hard. I've never seen a tyke this ripped, who needs brains when you've got brawn to put Hercules to shame. Don't tell anyone your secret boy, be smart about that at least and keep it to yourself."

Gon shrugged, and the man cursed as he nearly stabbed the wrong area. "I think it's just because I'm a Hunter, and I trained a lot. It's no secret."

At this the old man stared at him. "Really now?" He squinted. "Hey, wait a minute, are you...surely you're not Ging's son..."

Ed guffawed and slammed his hand down on the counter. "Ye just now noticed? Oho, you're rusted AND blind te boot!"

The old man paled.

"Well what're you doing having _me_ give him a tattoo!! Ging's son deserves better'n that! And a Hunter, of all the--"

"I don't mind what it looks like, really," Gon reassured him. "I can't be a Hunter anymore anyway, because I lost my nen."

The old man and the muscled sailor blinked. "What's that?"

"Oh, uh," Gon just realized he shouldn't have said that. "It's a...Hunter...magic....uh, power thing. I kinda don't have it anymore, I threw it all away." He laughed.

"Now what'd you go and do a foolish thing like that for? I take it back, you do need brains, I'll ink some on you right now!"

Gon laughed again. Then he looked across at the monkey playing with the glass bottles. "I thought I had nothing left to lose, so I used everything." His eyes glazed, as if lost in a memory. "But my friends....they're all Hunters now. Leorio, Kurapika, and Killua...I can't be with them anymore." His tone grew forlorn.

"Hey chin up now kid, if they're really your friends they'll come visit you here."

Gon shrugged and shook his head. "I don't think so. I haven't heard from Kurapika in a long time, he's trying to do something very important. Killua's traveling the world with his little sister and didn't say when he'd be back. Leorio has to focus on his studies right now," Gon smiled, "He's going to be the best doctor in the whole world!"

The monkey had crawled into Gon's lap and he scratched at the base of its neck while it sniffed at him. He bent his head down and sniffed back at its nose. It sneezed and chittered at him. "I can't keep up with any of them, I'd only hold them back. It wouldn't be like it was before. Everything's different now."

Ed and the tattooist shared a look. In the background, one table of drunkards had smashed a mug and began a riot of yells at some unknown insult. Another table yelled back, and chairs were toppling over.

"Hey, kid, it's not much, but I think I've got something that might help..."

= = =

Gon winced and took a deep swig of the proffered beer Ed handed to him, wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand as all the pub's residents cheered. The skin over his shoulder blades felt raw, and it burned hellishly when the tattooist poured more alcohol over the fresh wounds.

He nodded approvingly as he swiped off the excess ink. "Finest work I've ever done, if I do say so."

Gon winced again at the sting but turned to face him with a genuinely sincere smile. "Thank you so much, Mister!" The monkey squeaked in agreement, chewing at the end of its long tail in Gon's lap.

"Ah don't thank me until you've seen it! Now, big lug, make yourself useful and find me a mirror."

Ed patted at his pockets until he found a straight razor, its edge long and gleaming in the light like a switchblade.

Gon craned his neck around and looked into the reflective surface to see his back. He stared in silence for a moment.

"See, now, tattoos have got special powers, as true as the sailor who believes in them," began the tattooist solemnly. "Maybe it's magic, like your nen. Some of them bring you luck, fortune, or even protect your loved ones while you sail across the world... And these," he gestured with the blade to make the reflection move, "will guide you back to your friends."

Gon stared at the two swallow's wings on his back, and his eyes hardened. The old man was taken aback by the shadows that suddenly appeared in such a happy young face. He froze when those eyes turned on him, slowly.

Gon gripped at the shoulder of the man's jacket. Not hard, but enough that the tattoo artist could sense the unnatural strength behind that hold.

"So, as long as I believe in them," the boy said in a low voice, "they'll work?"

The artist nodded, and the tall sailor next to him grew quiet, unsure what was happening. Gon looked away from their eyes, distracted. "As long as I believe..."

At this point the artist wondered if he should clarify and say that the tattoos were only a symbol, and that he'd just been speaking in fancy metaphors to cheer the little pup up, but self-preservation kept him quiet. It was unclear what kind of change had just occurred. It was like a sudden storm coming from the horizon.

Until Gon smiled again, and then it was like those strange clouds had never been there.

He hugged the tattooist warmly, thanked him again, and gave Ed a high five. The monkey's shrieks of excitement followed him out the door as he picked up his shirt and jacket from the counter, and waved goodbye. The pub crowd cheered drunkenly at his exit.

The old man turned to Ed and shook his head as he gathered up his needles. "Ging's son, I'll be damned. That tyke of his sure is something."

Ed nodded in agreement. Though what that 'something' Gon was remained a mystery. True, the boy was just as charming and gifted as his father, but it was clear that something much darker lurked beneath that bright face. Something cold.

No sense worrying about it. Ed downed his final mug of ale and laid his head down on the bar to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> 5/15/18  
> I made a bittersweet 8tracks killugon playlist set after Gon returns to Whale Island.
> 
> 1\. "If I Had a Boat" by Lyle Lovett  
> 2\. "Fishin' In the Dark" by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band  
> 3\. "Don't Be Shy" by Cat Stevens  
> 4\. "One of These Days" by Neil Young  
> 5\. "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" by Scissor Sisters  
> 6\. "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise)" by Rufus Wainwright  
> 7\. "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding  
> 8\. "Hanging By a Moment" by Lifehouse


End file.
